Obs. Forms: 1 byt, bytt, 2 butte, 3–5 bitte, 4 bit. [OE. byt(t) str. fem., cogn. w. ON. bytta pail, MDu., MLG. butte (Du. but, LG. but, büt water-bucket, cask; adopted, at some period, from med.L. buttis, butta (cf. It. botte, Sp., Pr. bota, F. botte, boute), of uncertain origin: see Diez, Littré, Scheler. OE. had also byden fem., a butt, cogn. w. OHG. butina, MHG. büten, bute, mod.G. bütte, adopted from med.L. butīna, *budīna, dim. of butta. The phonetic forms show that these words are not Teutonic. Cf. BUTT, BOTTLE.] A leathern bottle or flask; the uterus or womb; a fire-bucket.

1

c. 1000.  Ags. Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, Voc., 336. Uter, byt.

2

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Matt. ix. 17. Ne hiʓ ne doð niwe win on ealde bytta … ʓyf hi doð, þa bytta beoð tobrokene.

3

a. 1200.  in Wr.-Wülcker, Voc., 552. Uter, butte.

4

c. 1230.  Hali Meid., 35. Inwið þi wombe swelin þe bitte [v.r. butte].

5

c. 1467.  E. E. Gilds, 382. That the bitters be redy with hur horses and bittes to brynge water … when eny parelle of fuyre ys.

6